Christmas Island
by PowerSneakers
Summary: An origin story covering Sonic's adventures on Christmas Island and delves into his long and complicated history with Dr. Eggman. What set Eggman on his quest for domination and his desire to establish the Eggman Empire? Just how did the genius scientist and iconic blue hedgehog cross paths? How did they begin the rivalry that has literally crossed time and space itself?
1. Rolling Around

Chapter 1: Rolling Around

"Sonic!" A name on Christmas Island that was synonymous with trouble among anyone who had some sort of interaction with the young hedgehog associated to it.

For the umpteenth time, Sonic, using his ability to curl up into a small ball and roll around at high speeds, had crashed into yet another house, severely wrecking it and causing several thousand rings worth of damage.

"Sonic, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times: you cannot just curl up into a ball and roll around wherever you want."

"But Alik," Sonic said, taking the hand Alik offered to help him up, "it's hard to see where I'm going when I do curl up. Besides, I'm a _hedgehog_. That's what I'm _supposed_ to do."

Alik let out a out a long sigh as he tried to contemplate how to explain such serious matters to such a young and naïve hedgehog. "You still have to be careful where you do so. There are consequences to damaging other people's property."

"I don't do it on purpose though, honest."

"I know."

"It's just really hard for me to see where I'm going."

"I know."

"'specially when I can't make sense of up or down."

"I know, Sonic!" Sonic jumped in surprise at Alek's sudden outburst, quickly looking down at the ground as if looking in any other direction would have consequences of some sort. "I didn't mean to snap at you," Alik said softly. "Just wait here, okay?" A quick bob of the head from Sonic was the only response Alik got. Deciding not to make a bad situation a thousand times worst, she hung her head before slinking off to talk to the owner of yet another house inadvertently damaged by Sonic.

"Listen," he said, approaching the very upset owner of the house.

"No, Alik," the woman said. "I won't listen to another excuse of yours. That blue hedgehog ought to know better than to go carelessly rolling around without any regard for the safety of others."

"He does know better, but he has trouble knowing when and where it's appropriate."

"That's hardly any excuse."

"So tell me, uh, Ermyl, is it?"

"Yes, that is my name."

"Well you have a young hedgehog of your own, do you not?"

"A _pink_ hedgehog."

"Even so, you surely must know how difficult it is to raise one-"

"Yes-"

"-regardless or any preconceived assumptions that raising a certain type of hedgehog is more difficult or rewarding than that of another."

"Well unlike Sonic, she is very well behaved and always takes full responsibility for her actions."

"Well in that case," Alik said, lowering his voice to nearly a whisper, "should she have to make reparations for her, let's say 'creative', uses with that hammer of yours?"

Ermyl's eyes widened in near horror. "That's different," she said, adjusting her stance. "Amy was just trying to-"

"Express herself?"

"Exactly."

"And so was Sonic."

"Perhaps, but Amy does so in a responsible and reasonable manner. This isn't the first time Sonic has used property as a bumper. This has become a regular occurrence with him, and I'm certain that it won't be the last time."

"It will be."

Ermyl rolled her eyes in a mix of frustration and a waning sense of patience that had been whittled down to little more than a nub.

"So," Alik said, cringing in dread as every response Ermyl might give ran through his mind, each one worst than the last. "Can we forget this little incident ever happened?"

"I'll let it slide this time."

"Thank you so much,"

"You really need to talk to him," Ermyl said, shaking her head. "You can't keep treating him like he's two years old anymore. He needs to learn that there is weight to what he does. At some point you will have to hand out a punishment, even if you don't want to."

"Yeah, I know."

"And keep in mind that while everyone here is well aware and mindful of what Sonic has had to go through, especially at such a young age, it does not excuse him being allowed to do whatever he wants without repercussions of some sort. Eventually, everyone runs out of patience, especially if it costs them money."

"You're right. The thing is . . ."

"What? Listen, I'm sure he's still struggling to cope with it-anyone would-but if you don't talk to him about it, he'll never be able to move past it."

"I would," Alik began, avoiding looking Ermyl in the eyes, "but . . . well . . ."

"He doesn't know, does he?"

"Not technically, no."

"How could you not tell him, Alik? He should know what happened to his parents."

"Well he does kind of know."

"What do you mean?"

"I sort of told him that his mother left for complicated reasons."

"And what did those reasons entail?"

"That she was being followed by Ivo and had to leave to keep him from hurting Sonic."

"You know that isn't even remotely true."

"I know."

"Well what about his father? What did say about him?"

"He doesn't think he's dead . . ."

"You told him he's alive?" Ermyl said, her already high voice nearly breaking the sound barrier. "Why would you say that?"

"I couldn't bring myself to tell him that both of his parents are dead."

"Well you certainly shouldn't have made him believe that they're alive."

"That's not all he thinks."

"What do you mean?"

"He thinks that I'm his father."

"He WHAT?! What possessed you to tell him such a thing?"

"You know how horrible his parents were. For some reason they expected me to take care of him all of the time even though I barely knew them, and when I found out how little they cared for him, I felt obligated to do so. Because of that though, everyone thought that they not only charged me with watching Sonic should something happen to them, but that I was solely responsible for raising him."

"Oh. I didn't know."

"It's not your fault. I would've assumed the same thing. And you're not wrong in giving me the advise that you have. But it's hard raising Sonic, and nobody is willing to help me. Add all of the property he's destroyed on top of that and everything begins to pile up very quickly. Everyone jumps to blame me, but aren't even willing to figure out if I need help or assume that I'm not even trying"

"I see. Well I want you to know that I'll always be willing to help you. And who knows, maybe Sonic and Amy can even become good friends."

"Yeah. Maybe." Thanking Ermyl again, Alik went back to where he left Sonic only to see that he was gone.


	2. At the Speed of Sound

Chapter 2: At the Speed of Sound

Sonic ran as fast as his feet could carry him. Nowhere specific, just away from where he was. He'd never ran as far as he currently had without curling into a ball. His feet were starting to hurt running with only socks as protection. He hardly ever wore shoes despite Alik's constant instance that he do so because of how tight they felt. The only reason he wore socks was to give Alik some assurance that his feet had some sort of protection. Now it seemed that the cramped and confined sensation of a pair of shoes would feel better than the pricks and aches that currently afflicted his feet.

"Sonic! Sooooniiiiiiic!" Sonic's ears twitched as the gravelly sound of Alik's voice made it's way into his ears. Alik's voice didn't travel that far, so he was even closer than he sounded. It was only a matter of time before he caught up.

So Sonic stopped and sat down. His feet were hurting to anyway, and he had some things to discuss with Alik anyway.

"There you are, Sonic," Alik said, finding the hedgehog just a few minutes after he stopped running. "Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? Something could have happened to you, especially all the way out here. Who knows what kind of animals are running around out in these woods. Now come on, we're going back into town."

"No!" Sonic said, standing up.

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

"I mean I'm not going with you. Not until you tell me what happened to my parents."

"Oh. You . . . heard that."

"All this time I thought Dr. Ivo Robotnik was a bad guy, but you lied about him. You lied about him taking my mom away. And you-you lied about being my dad."

"Sonic, I can explain."

"You'd better!" Sonic yelled, grief flooding through his body nearly as quickly as the tears streaming down his face. "So why? Why did you do it?"

"It's complicated."

"How?" Sonic croaked. His voice was shaky, strained. He was sniffling as if he had a cold, and the green and black colors of his irises that helped to give him his fiery look of determination was dulled and darkened by the redness caused by the trail of tears leaking from his eyes. "Just tell me the truth."

"I don't think-"

"Tell me who you really are. Please. Please."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean who are you to my parents? Why did they choose you to take care of me?"

"You know the answer to that."

"Well you were probably lying about it."

"Unfortunately I'm not."

"How do I know that?" Sonic sobbed. "You lied to me about so many other things. Why would this be any different?"

"They didn't care about you."

"You're lying!"

"I'm not. I don't know why they chose me to take care of you, but they did. And now, looking back on all of it, I'm glad that they did. Please understand that I've always cared about you, Sonic, and I always will."

"So why did you say that taking care of me was such a burden?"

"I didn't. I said that it was . . . listen Sonic, I didn't mean it like that. It's just difficult trying to raise a hedgehog, or anyone really. That doesn't mean that I don't want to do it, because I do want to, but there are a lot of things that make it difficult."

"Like all of the stuff I break, right?"

"Yeah. I'm afraid so."

"Then I won't curl up into a ball anymore."

"No," Alik said, kneeling down so that he was eye level with Sonic. "Like you said, you're a hedgehog, you're supposed to do that. You just wouldn't be the same if you stopped doing it, and do you know why?" Sonic shook his head, looking confused but eager to hear the answer. "Because I know it's something that you love to do. And for me to take that away from you is something I could never live with. I love you so much Sonic, more than you will ever know." A small smile spread across Sonic's face as he wiped at his eyes a few more times.

"You do?"

"So very much. Don't ever forget that. Now let's-"

Alik was cut off by a loud, robotic voice that seemed to be coming out of nowhere. "You have intruded onto Dr. Ivo Robotnik's property. Leave now or you will be attacked. You have precisely thirty four point zero two nine seconds left to comply."

"Come on," Alik said, standing up and grabbing Sonic's hand. "We have to get out of here right away."

"What?" Sonic asked, confused as to why Alik sounded so worried. "Why can't we just talk to Dr. Ronotnik and ask him if it's alright that we're on his property."

"Because . . . we just can't, Sonic. I can't really explain it right now, but we have to go back to town."

"I'm sure he'll understand if we just ask really nicely."

"We can't."

"But why not, Alik?"

"There's no time to explain it. Tell you what, we don't have to go back to town if you don't want to, but we can't stay here."

"You keep saying that, but you won't even consider it. How do you know if you don't try?" Alik barely had time to consider answering when he saw something in the distance moving toward him and Sonic. Catching a glimpse of Robotnik's face engraved on the side of it, he knew there was about to be trouble.

"Listen Sonic," Alik said, again kneeling down so that he was eye level with Sonic, "remember how I told you that you needed to be careful about when and where you curled up into a ball."

"Yeah."

"And do you remember why I said that?"

"You said because I went so fast, if I ran into something, whatever it was would probably break and that breaking other people's stuff is wrong."

"Well for right now, you don't have to worry about that."

"I don't?" Sonic asked, his whole face lighting up.

"Nope. Now I want you to curl up and roll into town, and I'll see if I can beat you there. Think you can do that?"

"You're on."

"Okay. Ready . . . Set . . . Go!" Faster than Alik could blink, Sonic was racing toward town, off at the speed of sound.


	3. It's Complicated

Chapter 3: It's Complicated

"Amy dear," Ermyl called, pushing the couch in the living room back to its proper position, "do you remember where I put my purse?"

"Last time I saw it was on top of the dresser in your room," Amy said, emerging from her room with a pair of open finger boxing gloves on.

"I checked there and I couldn't find it."

"And you checked in the drawers?"

"Well of course I did. Or . . . did I? Amy, would you mind checking?"

"Already on it, mom," Amy said from her mother's room. A few moments later, Amy emerged from Ermyl's room with the missing purse in tow.

"You found it! Where did I leave it?"

"In the third drawer next to some magazines."

"Magazines? I don't-oh. Those magazines."

"Don't look so embarrassed about it, mom," Amy said, handing the purse to Ermyl. "It's a very highly debated topic regarding how Chao breed, or if they even do so with other Chao. There's no need to be shy talking about it."

"I know, but there seems to be so much controversy around it, and some people around here get rather violent about it."

"Yeah, they sure do."

"So were you hitting the punching bag again?"

"No, the speed bag."

"What's the difference?"

Amy let out a long, exasperated sigh at the mere thought of having to yet again explain a concept that even non boxers know. "I'm not explaining it again, mom. If you can't remember the difference even though I've explained it to you at least ten different times, I-hey, isn't that the hedgehog who wrecked our back room earlier today?"

"It is," Ermyl said as she turned toward the window. "I wonder why he's curled up in a ball rolling around town like that; it's what got him in trouble to begin with. I'm surprised Alik would just let Sonic out of his sight after having spent so much time looking for him." Ermyl immediately regretted saying that as she remembered her earlier conversation with Alik. "Wait here, Amy, I'll be right back."

Before Amy could ask what her mother was about to do, Ermyl was already outside. "Hey!" she yelled, trying to predict Sonic's path and run in front of it, hoping that he would somehow see her and stop. It didn't take long for her to correctly guess his path, random as it seemed; all she could do now was hope for the best.

Making a sloppy u-turn in front of Ermyl and breaking several statues in the process, Sonic screeched to a halt, producing a very loud and audible skidding sound.

"Mom!" Amy yelled, running outside. "What were you thinking? That hedgehog could've ran you right over and not given it a second thought. You're lucky he decided to make that turn at the last second or you would've wound up worst than that hole in our wall he caused."

"You can see that I'm standing right here, can't you?" Sonic asked as he stood up and began to get his bearings back.

"Yeah, so? Would you prefer that I talk about you behind your back instead?"

"No, I'd prefer that you not talk about me at all."

"Well when you decide to stop breaking everything, I will."

"Stop it, both of you," Ermyl said, stepping in between the two. "Now Sonic," she continued, facing him completely, "where is Alik?"

"You mean he's not here?"

"He hasn't been for quite a few hours. If I remember correctly, he went looking for you. Does he not already know that you're back in town?"

"I thought that he would already be here by now."

"Why would he be here if he was out looking for you?"

"He's the one that challenged me to a race here to begin with."

"A race?"

Yeah," Sonic said, as if what he meant should have been obvious. "I just thought that he would have had some way of making it a more of a competition."

"Why did he challenge you to a race?"

"I don't know. It seemed kind of odd when he said it."

"What do you mean? Where is he?"

"Well he kept saying that we needed to come back to town because he thought Dr. Robotnik would he upset that we were on his property."

"Robotnik?" Ermyl had a less than subtle look of extreme worry on her face. If Alik was in trouble and Robotnik was the cause of it, had she been too quick to dismiss him as a serious threat? And even if what Alik said about the fate of Sonic's parents wasn't true, could the Robotnik be capable of acts that were just as bad?

"I guess Alik decided to stay behind and talk to Dr. Robotnik after all. That's probably why he isn't back yet."

"You and Amy stay here. I'm going to go look for him."

"Why?" Sonic and Amy asked.

"Because I don't want you two to get hurt."

"You need to quit worrying so much, mom," Amy said.

"Fine then, come if you want to, but only if you two can get along. I will not be a babysitter for you. Understand?"

"Yeah," Sonic said.

"Whatever," Amy replied.

"And one more thing. Amy, get the piko hammer from the hall closet. Sonic, go with her. Meet me back here in two minutes or else I'm gone."

"Oh come on," Sonic said. "You expect me to wait on _her_? By the time she finds whatever hammer you're talking about, you'll be long gone."

"Well then you won't mind spending all of the extra time you'll have on your hands to find a pair of shoes."

"For what?"

"There's no telling how long we may spend looking for Alik, and I don't want something as easily avoidable as a blatant lack of foot care to be a reason that we have to slow down."

"But-"

"And you'd better hurry. You've already wasted about twenty seconds talking to me."

"Hey, that's not fair. You can't start the time until we go get the stuff you asked for."

"Well Amy didn't seem to have to much trouble finding what she needed." Sonic turned around to see truth to what Ermyl was saying. Sure enough, he saw Amy running back with her mother's piko hammer in hand. "You'd better hurry, Sonic. You've only got about a minute and a half left, and you wouldn't want Amy coming with me while you had to stay behind, would you?" Sonic rushed off to his house as quickly as he could, wondering if he hadn't already tossed out the shoes Alik had bought for him.

"Where's he off to in such a hurry?" Amy asked as she watched Sonic frantically run toward his house.

"Going to look for a pair of shoes."

"So I take it we're leaving him here?"

"What would give you that impression?"

"Well we're not really going to wait for him to come back, right?" The look on Ermyl's face indicated to her daughter that that was exactly what they were going to do.

"Come on, mom, you really don't expect Sonic to be able to handle himself in a serious situation, do you?"

"He made it back here on his own from wherever field he and Alik were in."

"Because he thought he was in a race. He has no idea that Alik could be in real trouble."

"Even if he isn't aware of the seriousness of the situation, he'll make bringing Alik back much more manageable, assuming he's in any immediate danger to begin with."

"I thought Dr. Ronotnik kidnapped him."

"I never said that."

"No," Amy said, "but that look on your face when Sonic said that he was involved gave the implication that you thought at least that had happened."

"I just don't want to assume that nothing is wrong when something bad could be happening. At the same time, I don't want to get worked up over nothing and wind up causing problems that weren't there to begin with."

"It seems pretty easy to figure out. Is Dr. Robotnik a bad guy or not?"

"Well it depends on how you look at him," Ermyl said.

"What do you mean?"

"Yeah," Sonic said, walking up to Amy and Ermyl. "I'd like to know the answer to that too."

"It's complicated."

"That's just something adults say when they don't want to explain something."

"I hate to agree with Sonic," Amy said, "but he's right. We may still be kids, but we're old enough to not be fooled by the 'it's complicated' excuse."

"Fair enough Ermyl said. "But we'll have to run and talk." _There's no telling what sort of trouble Alik may already be in. I just hope we're not too late._

"Then let's go," Sonic said. Without another word, he was off and running toward the field he had come from at blistering speed. No sooner had Sonic gone out of sight than he came back into view, the sound of his shoes squealing as he came to a halt.

"Come on," he said. "What's the problem? Don't you two want to go see Alik?"

"Yes," Ermyl said, "but . . . Sonic, if you've always been able to go that fast with that much control, why don't you do so all the time?"

"Because I can only do that wearing shoes, and every pair of shoes I've had always wind up hurting my feet. Not only that, but they never make it past a few days without being torn to pieces. Don't ask me how, but they just do."

"Have you considered not running so fast?"

"Why would I do that?"

"You'll have to so that Amy and I can keep up."

"You mean you two can't run that fast?" Sonic asked puzzled.

"No, we can't. You're actually the only one on Christmas Island who can move that fast. That's why your name is Sonic."

"I don't get it."

"It doesn't matter. Just try to slow down enough to not leave us behind. So you think you can do that?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Enough talking about it," Amy said. "Let's go already."


	4. My Own Way

** TheLonelyLunatic: Thanks. I'm glad you liked it and I really do appreciate you saying so.**

**werewolf lover99: They might, but I'm not sure where I'm going to go with that. And thanks for reading. It really does mean a lot to me that I have people who like what I'm writing.**

Chapter 4: My Own Way

"Wakey, wakey little hedgehog. I have a very important job for you."

Alik stirred with a groan as he opened his eyes and his vision began stumbling in, a task which was not helped by one too many bright lights that seemed to be fixed specifically on him. "Where am I?" Alik asked sitting up.

"Why, you're in the heart of one of my brilliant creations: The Jungle Zone!"

A quick glance around showed Alik that whoever was speaking to him was not within visible view and was likely communicating using a similar method to the one used when Alik was last with Sonic. "Why am I here?"

"Consider yourself a guinea pig of sorts."

_That voice . . . it's distorted, but seems vaguely familiar. Almost like . . ._

"You do know that I'm a hedgehog, don't you?"

"Clearly. After all, I do have an IQ of over 300."

"Well you just called me a guinea pig."

"So? What's your point?"

"A guinea pig," Alik said, slowly rising to his feet, "which I am not, is from the caviidae family; a hedgehog, which I am, is from the erinaceidae family."

"And?"

"Well if someone as smart as you gets something as simple as that wrong, I can't imagine how you could possibly expect me to be impressed or intimidated by . . . whatever _this_ place is."

"The Jungle Zone! Get it right."

"You call this the Jungle Zone, but there aren't any trees or foliage. It's just a bunch of old looking stones and some creepy gargoyles."

"No, not jungle as in a forest, jungle as in a place of extreme complexity that demonstrates my brilliant genius."

"It doesn't look that complicated to me. If anything, it just looks like a bunch of sloppy designs on the part of an amateur architect. What you have here is faux intelligence trying and miserably failing to be passed off as authentic and well thought out ingenuity."

"What?! Why you- you-you pretentious little hedgehog! I'll show you!" A deep hissing sound was initiated followed by the ground under Alik quickly crumbling and sending him falling onto the deeply slanted hill just a few feet below. "Now you'll see; if you're so smart, find your way out of my labyrinth."

The slope below sent Alik running almost faster than his legs could keep up with. It was inclined to such a degree that he was almost tripping over himself trying to stay on his feet. "You see?" Alik yelled as he descended the slope. "The Labyrinth Zone would be a much better name for this place than-" The slope quickly turned into a near vertical fall, sending Alik literally falling head over heels. It didn't seem to last very long, but when it did eventually level out to flat ground, Alik was left face down on the floor.

"You are here as a test subject for a little experiment I am devising," the voice said.

"What kind of experiment?" Alik said as he got to his feet yet again.

"Well I usually don't let my test subjects in on what I'm planning, but I suppose that I can make an exception this one time. You see, I've had cameras and sensors installed here for quite some time that alert me to when intruders come onto my property, like you and your little friend did."

_Sonic._

"Unfortunately, the cameras had a slight malfunction and the audio equipment stopped working altogether, so all I have is a color distorted video of you two discussing who knows or who cares. What interested me though was how fast that other little hedgehog was able to go."

"You leave him out of this, Robotnik!" Alik snarled.

"So," Robotnik said "you were able to deduce my identity, eh, hedgehog?"

"It wasn't that difficult. You have a very annoying voice that is near impossible to forget."

"And it will be that voice that will have complete control over your friend once I'm get my hands on him."

"I swear, if you even think about hurting him-"

"You'll do what? Face it, hedgehog, you're as good as trapped here. Nothing you do or say will be able to save your friend, so may as well just accept it and move on with your life."

"I will get out of here, Doctor, and when I do, you will be sorry."

"Hmph! That'll be the day. Escape if you can, hedgehog. And good luck; you'll need it."

* * *

"Wow," Amy said, picking up her pace to keep up with Sonic and Ermyl. "Dr. Robotnik doesn't sound like a very nice man."

"I'll say," Sonic chimed in. "Guy sounds like a real nut case."

"It is not that simple," Ermyl said. "You two must understand that Dr. Robotnik is not the most . . . sociable person in the world, so people around here, myself included, had and still have a tendency . . . to write him off as sketchy at best. His grandfather was a scientist and a man he greatly admired and . . . looked up to. When he grew up, he tried to pursue a teaching degree so that he could teach others how to . . . look at the world through the eyes of a scientist." Ermyl tried to slow down her breathing to where it didn't sound like she was having a panic attack, though trying to do so while talking and running at a pace she considered to be fast was making the task rather difficult. Carrying a hammer that was nearly as heavy as she was didn't help matters either.

"So what happened?" Sonic asked.

"Unfortunately, his progress was hindered at nearly every turn."

"Why? Was someone trying to do it on purpose."

"Maybe, but it's debatable."

"What do you mean?" Amy asked.

"Like I said, he was looked at very skeptically by nearly everyone around him. It wasn't necessarily . . . that someone was trying to sabotage him so much as it was that the perfect storm of . . . unfortunate coincidences stopped him at nearly every turn."

"I don't buy it," Sonic declared proudly. "Alik says there's no such thing as coincidences, and I agree with him."

"Well coincidence or not," Ermyl continued, "Dr. Robotnik certainly looked at the situation from the more negative end of the spectrum. It didn't take long . . . for him to turn his attention to getting revenge on . . . the individuals he deemed responsible for his failure."

"All of Christmas Island," Amy said.

"Precisely."

"What exactly does he plan on doing?" Sonic asked.

"I don't know, but if he's resorted to kidnapping . . . it can't be anything good."

"Well," Amy said, "Alik and Sonic did go onto his land."

"But then he kidnapped Alik," Ermyl said. "There was no justification for that."

"I'm still not sure that he did it," Sonic said.

"From what you told Amy and I, it sure sounds that way. If he didn't kidnap Alik . . . those sure are a lot of coincidences, and you've made it clear . . . how you feel about those."

"But I do believe in bad luck."

"What's the difference?"

"A coincidence is when you overhear a conversation that you're not supposed to. Bad luck is when someone that's part of the conversation is not the subject of it."

"Oh. You . . . heard that conversation?"

"Both of them actually. The one you had with Alik, which I'm sure is the one that you're talking about, is why I ran off and why Alik came looking for me."

"And why he-"

"He didn't get kidnapped!" Sonic yelled, stopping abruptly and nearly causing Ermyl and Amy to run into him as they stumbled to a stop. "Because if he did, then it's my fault, and I don't know if I can live with that."

"I'm sorry," Ermyl said. "I didn't think . . ."

"It's fine," Sonic said sniffling and wiping his eyes. "Let's just go find him. The sooner we do, the sooner we can go home."

The awkward silence that followed afterward was unsettling to say the least. Amy and Ermyl avoided looking at Sonic, even though doing so would only be at his back, opting instead to look at the ground. They trudged behind him to such a degree that there were at least four body lengths worth of space between them.

"What's the matter?" Sonic asked, sensing the distance Amy and Ermyl were keeping from him. "Do I smell or something?" Though he was trying to make light of the situation, his tone betrayed him to a fault. Neither answered him as the air grew increasingly thick with discomfort. "Well?" Sonic asked, again trying to break the silence. "What's wrong?"

"Well," Amy said, surprising herself when she managed to form any kind of intelligible sound with how dry her throat felt.

"Yeah?" Sonic nearly yelled.

"You really need to get a grip, Sonic." Again Sonic came to a sudden stop with Amy and Ermyl following suit.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sonic asked turning to face Amy.

"Exactly what you think it means," Amy said, crossing her arms. "It means you need to face the reality that you may have inadvertently been responsible for getting Alik captured."

"But I didn't. I couldn't have. He's always been there for me. Even if it wasn't under the best of circumstances, he's always taken care of me and put my safety first. If I'm responsible for getting him in trouble though, then it's like I'm spitting on everything he's done for me."

"No, it's not. It means you made a mistake, but now you're trying to make it right. Though I've never met Alik, I'm sure he wouldn't want anymore from you."

"I guess you're right," Sonic said, dropping his gaze from Amy.

"I am right."

Anger quickly started to swirl in Sonic, though he wasn't sure why. Amy saw this and tried to give Sonic a reassuring touch, only to be quickly swatted away by him.

"I'm wasting time holding back so you two can tag along," Sonic said, turning away from Amy.

"Sonic," Ermyl said, taking a cautious step toward the blue hedgehog. "Please think about what you are doing."

"I have. Alik needs my help, and I can't stick around here when I could have already found him on my own."

"But you have friends that are willing to help you," Amy said. "You don't have to do this on your own."

"I know you mean well, Amy, but I do."

"Why?" Ermyl asked.

"I've got my own way of doing things. Alik once told me that even if I'm doing what someone asked, he wanted me to always do things my own way, with my own style, and until now, I never really understood what he meant. The way I see it, if I always do things the way everyone expects me to, it'll never get done the way I want."

"Please don't go, Sonic," Amy said, her voice trembling. Sonic didn't have to turn around to know that she was very close to crying.

"You two can do what you want, but I'm going to go find Alik, and I'm going to do it my own way."

"Well fine then," she said, taking a deep breath to try to compose herself.

"Amy!" Ermyl said, shocked at what she was hearing. "We have to stick together. If we split up-"

"It's okay, mom. He's going to go no matter what we say."

"At least that's something we agree on," Sonic said as he started to walk away.

"Wait," Amy said, grabbing him by the arm before he could take off and spinning him around to face her, causing him to stumble forward. Until now, the two had only acknowledged each another. Now they were really looking at one other for the first time.

"Wh-what is it?" Sonic asked, his face just inches away from Amy's.

"I want to give you something before you go running off into the sunset." Sonic swallowed past the lump in his throat he didn't even know was there. "Here," Amy said, reaching into one of the pockets of her red one piece and pulling out two solid white straps with a golden buckle attached at the end of each of them. "These have been in my family for quite some time. My mom gave them to me as a way to always remember her, and now I'm giving them to you so that you'll always remember me."

"Amy. I-"

"Just promise me that you'll always keep them close by you."

"I will," Sonic said taking them. "In fact, I have an idea." He then took a knee, lacing a buckle to his each of his red and tattered shoes so that the buckle was on the outside of his shoe. "There," he said standing up. "Now a part of you will always be with me no matter where I go."

"You'd better never take them off," Amy said, hugging Sonic unexpectedly.

"I won't," he said, hugging her back.

They stayed like that for several moments before Ermyl let out a very exaggerated cough, quickly reminding them that she was still there.

"You should go," Amy said as she and Sonic let go of each other. "I, uh . . . I mean, just so that you can go save Alik. I mean, not that I don't think he's not okay, but-"

"Don't worry," Sonic said, gently grabbing Amy's shoulders. "Everything will be okay. Just leave it to me." Amy closed her eyes and let a small laugh escape as a grin spread across her face. When she opened her eyes though, Sonic was gone."

"Please be careful, Sonic."


	5. The Chaos Emeralds

Chapter 5: The Chaos Emeralds

Alik ran his fingers through his quills as he walked past what he was certain was the same set of gargoyles he saw not more than five minutes ago. As if that weren't bad enough, there were those pestering robots that constantly jumped out of the ground. At first Alik thought that there was some sort of pattern to their chaos, but a few cuts and scraps proved otherwise.

"Having trouble, hedgehog?"

Alik jumped at the unexpected voice. It was Robotnik's voice, but now it seemed closer. A few moments later, a drone like tv monitor came flying next to Alik, outfitted with a small screen in the center and speakers on either side. Sure enough, the same voice that had been communicating with him thus far was coming in loud and clear through the speakers, the monitor screen brandishing the doctor's mustached face

"I can help you, hedgehog," Robotnik said, "on one condition."

"And what would that be?" Alik asked.

"All I ask is that you help me find . . . someone."

"You leave Sonic out of this. He's done nothing wrong."

"Do you want my help or not?"

"Forget it."

"Bah! You're of no use, just as I thought."

"Come now, Dr. Robotnik," Alik said, crossing his arms as a smirk spread across his mouth. "Someone as smart as you should be able to find him. And my name isn't 'hedgehog', it's Alik."

"Oh ho ho ho ho!"

"What are you so happy about all of a sudden, Doctor?"

"Don't you see?" Robotnik asked. "Now I know what name to use when I meet your blue friend in person. I'm certain he'll rush to your aid once he finds out his good friend Alik is in trouble."

"Leave Sonic alone!" Alik yelled, swiping at but missing the monitor. "I swear by Chaos itself that if you lay one finger on him, it will be the last thing that you do before I wrap my fingers around that lump of meat you call a throat and-"

"My, my, you had better not let Sonic hear you talk like that. Youngsters like him are very impressionable at that age, and I'd hate for you to be a bad influence on him." Without another word, the monitor flew away from Alik, leaving him to his thoughts.

"I have to get out of here and stop Robotnik," Alik mused to himself. "For Sonic's sake." With a renewed resolve, Alik continued through the endless maze he was currently in, looking even harder for something, anything, that would show him the way out. But there wasn't a single sign. Not one single-

Alik's thoughts were quickly interrupted by a hissing sound similar to the one that had sent him tumbling down into this awful place to begin with. He quickly braced himself for a another downhill spiral, but nothing happened. The scenery didn't change in the least bit.

Or so it seemed.

As soon as he started to walk forward, the hissing sound went off yet again. Alik tensed up again, only seeing out of the corner of his eyes a wall slam shut just a few feet away from the switch he'd inadvertly activated. It was only by happenstance that he saw all of this and was able to figure out how he would now have even the smallest chance to escape from the confinement he'd literally been dropped in, though he wasn't going to admit that that was the case. He wouldn't go so far to say it was fate or destiny, but as far he was concerned, it was more than just a coincidence.

The problem now was getting past the wall without running into a slab of cement. Or worst; getting caught between the two walls and experiencing excruciating pain while being crushed to death. It didn't help that all the light in the area he was currently in seemed to completely disappear beyond whatever room was hidden beyond the wall. Though he knew he needed to get past it to find a way out, his mind would hinder his progress because it would fear the worst was waiting for him on the other side.

_Maybe if I can take out one of those robots, I can use it as a weight counter._ Then again, that would actually require him to take out one of the robots, which despite his best efforts, have been completely in vain.

"If only Sonic were here. He'd be able to make it past that wall a thousand times over before it even moved. At the very least he'd be able to just bust his way through it to the other side. After all, with as many houses as he's damaged, he's had plenty of practice. " As if Alik's words had caused it, the wall he was contemplating trying to blast through as easily as Sonic made it seem started to move aside. He hadn't stepped on the switch, which meant that someone else had activated a separate switch that had the same function as the one he had stepped on.

"Sonic!" Alik nearly yelled, running toward the hedgehog shaped silhouette that appeared. "What are you doing here? How did you even find me? You know what, that's not important. What matters now is that you're safe. Now let's get out of here." Before Alik could take another step forward, he saw a glint of light reflect off of the figure in front of him, revealing a silver color where a blue pigment should have been.

"You're not Sonic," Alik said, stepping back from the figure in front of him. "What are you?"

"I see you've met my latest creation!" Robotnik yelled as his monitor came flying in behind me. "I call it Metal Sonic! You see, when I saw what speed Sonic was capable of, I immediately set to work creating a machine that could duplicate his speed."

"Well it looks awful. This . . . abomination . . . is silver, where as Sonic is blue."

"Fine, then I'll call it Silver Sonic. Is that better?"

"No, it's not. You made it way too tall; the spikes are ALL wrong; the arms are blue, whereas Sonic's are peach; the legs are way too long; worst of all is it's eyes."

"What's wrong with the eyes?"

"They're black; Sonic's eyes are green."

"Regardless! This argument is pointless, so let's get straight down to business. This model is still incomplete."

"You don't say."

"SILENCE! You see," Robotnik continued as the robot's stomach opened, revealing a hidden compartment, "it needs a live, organic host to power it so that it can run at full capacity."

"And you want to use me as part of your sick experiment. Well you can forget it. I wouldn't get near that thing even if you gave me a million rings."

"You seem to be under the impression that I'm giving you an option," Robotnik said, a hint of amusement in his voice bordering disturbingly on excitement at the mere thought of using a person in one of his machines. "The fact of the matter is, you will get into that machine one way or another, whether you like it or not."

* * *

Sirens and alarms screeched and howled as Sonic neared Robotnik's base. They only grew louder as robots began to swarm around Sonic, his ears pinned down against his head as they twitched in pain, but he continued on. He wasn't sure where the base was, or even that there was one, but if Robotnik really had kidnapped Alik, and so many efforts were being made to stop him, he had to be getting close to finding where Alik was.

As Sonic neared the robots that were standing ready to stop him, the alarms and sirens came to an abrupt stop, replaced by Robtonik's voice.

"Sonic the hedgehog." Sonic immediately stopped upon hearing his name, keeping a wary eye on the robots ahead of him. "What you see before you are robots of my own design modled in my likeness."

"And what would that be?" Sonic called out. "An oversized egg?"

"What?! Do you know you are talking to? I am Doctor Ivo Robotnik, the world's greatest-"

"That's what I'll call you" Sonic interrupted. "Robotnik sounds way too weird, so I'll just call you Eggman."

"Hmph! I tried being civil, but now you will feel the full wrath of my army."

"Whatever you say, Egghead."

"That's very clever, Sonic."

I'm glad you think so. I was going for clever."

"And it's not wonder you're so natural at it. You must get it from your friend Alik."

"You leave him alone!" Sonic yelled, taking a step forward.

"It's funny; he said the same thing when I mentioned I'd be talking to you."

"What do you want? Tell me, whatever it is and I'll do it. Just please let Alik go."

"If you insist. What I want is for you to find the six Chaos Emeralds and hand deliver them to me."

"But those are just a myth. How am I supposed to find something that may not even exist?"

"Perhaps you need a little bit of motivation. If you would, please turn your attention to the monitor behind you."

A large rumbling began to shake the ground, nearly knocking Sonic off his feet. A few feet away, the ground opened up as a large tv monitor at least five buildings tall was hoisted up. A black and white image flickered to life, showing Alik being chased by another hedgehog. There was something different about it though. It looked like another one of Eggman's robot's, only shaped like a hedgehog.

_It kind of looks like me, _Sonic thought to himself. _I wonder . . . does Alik think that's me_? Regardless of if it was a robot or or just another hedgehog that looked like him, it clearly had intentions on hurting Alik, which wasn't something Sonic was going to stand for.

"Alright Eggman," Sonic said, turning back to face the egg shaped robots, the images on the screen still moving about. "I'll go get the Chaos Emeralds, but only if you let Alik go."

"You do not negotiate with me. Find the Chaos Emeralds and bring them to me or your friend might not make it to see tomorrow. Take a look for yourself."

As Sonic turned to look at the monitor, sure enough, the other hedgehog managed to grab ahold of Alik. Before anything else could be shown, the screen blacked out.

"That's it!" Sonic yelled. "Now you've gone too far!" Sonic quickly curled up into a ball and made a sharp u-turn, heading directly toward Eggman's robots. They charged toward Sonic with melee weapons in hand, but were cut through like a bowling ball through a stained glass window. One by one they continued to fall, swinging wildly in an attempt to bat away the streak of blue that flashed in front of them seconds before they were put out of commission.

"Enough!" Eggman yelled.

The robots all froze immediately, though it was clear that they hadn't been deactivated. "If you want me to stop," Sonic said, uncurling, "then let Alik go. Otherwise you'll have a field of broken robots."

"I'm glad you feel so eager to smash up my robots. In fact, I have one here that I'm certain you'll be more than happy to demolish. Egg Pawns, show our guest here my latest robotic addition." The robots sprung back to life, but completely ignored Sonic as they scrambled around, bumping into each other in an effort to carry out Eggman's orders. At first it looked like they were running in random patterns, but they were just moving out of the way so as to single out one specific robot; the same one that was going after Alik.

"You should've never created this one," Sonic said, his tone uncharacteristically vindictive. "I'm not just going to destroy it; I'm going to demolish it piece by piece. And then I'm coming for you to do the same." Again Sonic curled up into a ball and barreled toward the robot, only to bounce off of it and be sent flying backward.

Quickly uncurling, he saw the robot standing in the same spot, locked in a dead, unflinching gaze.

"This is not just any robot," Eggman said. "This is a better, stronger, faster version of you, Sonic. Whatever move you try to pull, it will counter with extreme skill and precision."

"We'll see about that!" Sonic yelled, running toward the robot.

"I wouldn't be so quick to act if I were you. After all, aren't you interested to find out what became of your friend, Alik?" Sonic came to a stop before Eggman could even finish saying Alik's name. "That's what I thought. Now then, watch and behold the genius that is, as you would out it, Doctor Eggman!"

The robot raced toward Sonic at speeds he almost couldn't even see, stopping just a few feet out of arm's length. It was bigger up close, at least three times as big as Sonic. It had an old, sickly sliver metallic sheen. Though it wasn't alive, there was a cold, malevolent emanating from it that could intimidate anyone.

"What-what have you done with my friend?" Sonic stammered.

The robot remained silent, but responded just the same. A low hissing sound echoed from it as it's stomach opened up to reveal a compartment holding Alik inside. He was unconscious, but looked to still be alive for the time being.

"You see, your friend here is powering this robot. Whenever it moves, it drains power from your friend through a very painful process, and you wouldn't want to cause him pain, would you?" Sonic only stared at Alik, trying to think of a way to free his friend. "And don't get any funny ideas of trying to free him from the robot. One order from me and the robot will self destruct. I wonder what that would do to a hedgehog."

"Fine," Sonic said, grinding his teeth. "Where do I go to look for the Chaos Emeralds?"

"They are located throughout the Special Zones, which themselves are accessed through special portals hidden throughout Christmas Island. Travel through these dimensions, recover the six Chaos Emeralds and being them to me immediately."

"Well where are the portals?"

"I don't have all of the answers. That's something you'll just have to figure out on your own."

"Some genius you are," Sonic mumbled.

"Oh," Eggman chirped. "I almost forgot to mention that I will be keeping tabs on you, so don't try any funny business."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that if you even think of telling someone else of what you are trying to do, I will know, and there will be consequences."

"Fine."

"Good. Now run along like a good hedgehog and find me those Emeralds. And remember: mum's the word."


	6. Test Flight

Chapter 6: Test Flight

Sonic raced back to White Beach in the hopes to find someone who knew something about the Special Zones Eggman mentioned, his mind still struggling to sort through everything that had happened.

"Hey!" Amy yelled, spotting Sonic not too far away from where she and Ermyly were, much to his dismay. He hadn't wanted to run into them for fear that he would slip up and tell them everything that had happened with Eggman, so he tried to pretend that he didn't notice her.

"I wonder why he's ignoring me," Amy said, coming to a stop as Ermyl caught up to her.

"He probably didn't see you, dear."

"No, mom," Amy said annoyed. "He clearly looked in my direction, but it's like he's purposely choosing not to even acknowledge me."

"Maybe Doctor Robotnik was keeping Alik in a different location and Sonic was able to get him to say where, and now he's heading over there."

"I don't know. It kind of looks like he's heading back into town."

"Why would he do that if he knows where Alik is?"

"We don't know if he does know. Whether he does or doesn't though, him going back to town isn't good."

"Oh, you're right," Ermyl said, resting against her hammer. "Should we go after him?"

"There's no way we'll be able to catch up to him before he's off and running to some other location."

"Well we're certainly not going to standing around here talking about it. We may not be able to catch him before he leaves town, assuming that's where he's going, but if he does go there, one of the townspeople may be able to tell us the next place he's running off to."

"Let's go then," Amy sighed.

As the two caught their breath before slinking back to White Beach, Sonic was already there asking everyone who would even look in his direction about the Chaos Emeralds. After having nearly every door slammed in his face, he went to the last house he hadn't tried.

"Listen, Sonic," Fang said, barely opening his door, "I'm not exactly the most popular guy on Christmas Island, but you're on a whole other level. I may not look like a guy who would care, but I don't feel like facing even more social rejection for talking to someone who is generally not well liked. If I were caught talking to you, much less helping you, it wouldn't do me any favors in tying to repair my reputation. Besides, the Chaos Emeralds are just a myth." Fang was a weasel who had developed a rap over the years as a thief. He'd never been caught in the act, but everyone knew that if something of value mysteriously went missing, Fang was the likely cause.

"But you're always going on about the Chaos Emeralds and that if anyone wanted them and was willing to pay what you asked, you could get them. You have to know something about how to get ahold of them."

"I might. Or I might not. What exactly would you be able to do for me if I theoretically had this information?"

"I wouldn't want to know if I were you."

"What do you mean, hedgehog?"

"It's what I'll do that you should be worried about," Sonic said coldly. "It'd sure be a shame if your small little house suffered an accident."

"Are you threatening up purposely wreck my house?"

"No," Sonic said, pushing Fang's door completely open and running into his house. "I'm saying that I'll demolish it if you don't help me. Take this vase for example." Sonic picked up a rather expensive looking case and twirled it around in his hand, tossing it up and catching it inches before it shattered on the ground. "If I were to drop it, I wonder if you would care."

"Just a bunch of fancy painted glass," Fang snorted.

"If you say so." Without another word, Sonic tossed the vase into the air and watched as Fang tripped over himself running to catch it.

"Are you crazy?" Fang asked, carefully setting the vase down and bending down to examine it. "Do you have any idea just how how much this vase runs? It's worth more than your life and you were just handling it like those ugly shoes on your feet I'm sure you found in a dumpster."

"It didn't look that nice to me, so I don't think I would've lost much sleep if it had broke."

"You're just lucky I don't report you."

"You go ahead and do that. But you know what? Not a single person will bat an eye because they hate you just as much as they hate me."

"So what? I was on my own before I came to this stick in the mud town and I'll be on my own again if I have to. Unlike you," Fang continued, standing up and turning to face Sonic, "I can leave this hole in the ground and dust the dirt off the soles of my . . ."

"Your what?" Sonic asked, twirling a pair of laces attached to gray, barely strung together leather that Fang called shoes. They made Sonic's red, tattered shoes look brand new.

"But how did you-"

"I'd sure hate to find these in the water," interrupted Sonic. "That would ruin them forever. Then they'd look like I found them in a dumpster."

"Okay, okay, you win, I'll talk. Now please give me back my shoes. They're the only thing I have that's mine."

"I'm listening," Sonic said, tossing the shoes back at Fang.

"There are literally millions of portals leading into different sections of the Special Zone, and only a certain amount of the special Zone can be explored depending on which portal you access. It's tricky trying to find a portal, let alone one that will lead to a section that has a Chaos Emerald. Then you have to access them in a specific order-"

"Get to the point, Fang. How do I find them?"

"Well I'm not entirely sure how to access them, but I do have a map that says where those specific portals are."

"That doesn't help me," Sonic growled.

"It's not that I don't know what will activate the portals, it's just that the requirements to access them are difficult, and there's a different requirement for each portal."

"And?"

"I'm really not supposed to say."

"Oh?"

"But I'll tell you anyway. There are six different ways to access the portals which each house a Chaos Emerald. The first is a giant ring called a Warp Ring. After that is a Star Post-"

"A what?" Sonic interrupted.

"It's a weird shaped yellow post that has a red circle with a black center that's mostly covered by a white star. Anyway, after that, you must find a giant spring; then you must collect seven special rings known as Chaos Rings."

"How do I get those?"

"Look, I don't know everything. All I know us how to get into the portals. After the Chaos Rings, you have to find a special golden key; once you find that, collect five Red Rings-"

"And those are?"

"A ring that's red."

"Obviously, but is there anything else weird or different about it?"

"It does have a red star in the middle of it."

"And you were going to leave that out?"

"I just forgot, okay?"

"Fine," Sonic said, tapping his foot impatiently. "What's the last thing I have to do to get the sixth Chaos Emerald?"

"Six? There are only five."

"But you said there were six."

"Well I meant five."

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"Look, I've got a lot of things going on outside of this conversation, so if I slip up on a detail, I apologize."

"Just hand over that map and I'll be on my way."

"Fine," Fang said walking back to the vase and reaching inside it. "Here," he said, shoving the rolled up map into Sonic's chest.

"If find out you're lying, I will be back and it won't be pretty." Not waiting for Fang to reply, Sonic raced back outside, the wind from the sudden speed knocking over Fang's vase.

The first location was on the map was on West Side Island, which meant that Sonic had to cross over water to get there. His stomach turned at the thought until he remembered about the plane Alik had built for him. It was finished, and Sonic knew what most of the controls did, but he still hadn't been on a test flight. Knowing that no one would be willing to teach him though, he decided now was as good a time as any.


End file.
